THIRTIETH LECTURE.

THE ROAD OF PENANCE.

Now hear with concentrated mind, how a monk destroys by austerities the bad Karman which he had acquired by love and hatred. (1)

By abstaining 1. from destroying life; 2. from lying; 3. from taking anything which is not given; 4. from all sexual indulgence; 5. from having any property; and 6. from eating at night, the soul becomes free from Âsravas 1. (2)

By possessing the five Samitis and the three Guptis, by freedom from passions, by subduing the senses, by vanquishing conceit 2, and by avoiding delusions, the soul becomes free from Âsravas. (3)

Hear attentively how a monk destroys (the Karman) acquired by love and hatred in the absence of the above-mentioned (virtues). (4)

As a large tank, when its supply of water has been stopped, gradually dries up by the consumption of the water and by evaporation, so the Karman of a monk, which he acquired in millions 3 of births, is annihilated by austerities, if there is no influx of bad Karman. (5, 6)

1. Fasting is of two kinds: a. itvara, temporary, and b. maranakâla, fasting which precedes, and ends with death. Temporary fasting is either such in which a desire (for food) is present, or such in which no such desire exists. (9)

a. The temporary fasting is briefly of six kinds: 1. in the form of a line 4; 2. in the form of a square; 3. in the form of a cube; 4. of a sixth power; 5. of a twelfth power; 6. of any arrangement. Temporary fasting (can be practised) for different objects which one has in mind. (10, 11)

b. Fasting which is to precede death, is of two kinds with regard to the motions of the body: with change (of position) and without change. (12)

And again it is twofold: admitting of relief 1, or not; one may either leave the place (which one has chosen to die in), or not leave it; in both cases one may not take any food. (13)

2. Abstinence is briefly of five kinds: with regard to a. substance; b. place; c. time; d. state of mind; e. development. (14)

a. He who takes less food than he usually does 2, in the extreme case but one mouthful, performs abstinence with regard to substance. (15)

b. (Place means) a village, a scotfree town 3, a capital, a camp of merchants 4, a mine, a settlement of a wild tribe 5, a place with an earth wall 6, a poor town 7, a town with a harbour 8, a large town 9, an isolated town 10, and an open town 11. (16)

c. Abstinence with reference to time (is observed by him) who goes about in that time of the four Paurushîs of the day (which he selects for that purpose). (20)

Or if he collects alms in a part of the third Paurushî, or in its last quarter, then he observes abstinence with reference to time. (21)

d. Abstinence with reference to state of mind (is observed by him) who accepts alms from a woman or man, from an adorned or unadorned person, from one of any age or dress, of any temper or colour: if that person does not change his disposition or condition 5. (22, 23)

e. A monk who observes abstinence according to the particulars which have been enumerated with regard to substance, place, time, and state of mind, observes abstinence with regard to development 1 too. (24)

3. With regard to collecting alms there are the eight principal ways 2 how to collect them; the seven êshanâs (or modes of begging) and other self-imposed restrictions. (25)

175:4 The meaning of this singular statement is as follows. If four fasts of two, three, four, and five days are performed in this order, they form a line. If this set of fasts is four times repeated, each time beginning with a different number, we get sixteen fasts; they form a square, viz.:

1

.

2

.

3

.

4

2

.

3

.

4

.

1

3

.

4

.

1

.

2

4

.

1

.

2

.

3

[paragraph continues] The next class contains 64 fasts, the fourth 4,096, the fifth 16,777,216 fasts. Fasts of the last class require 700,000 years at least, and must be assumed to be restricted to former Tîrthakaras, whose lives lasted enormous periods of time.

177:4 These are terms for different kinds of collecting alms; it is called pêtâ (box), when one begs successively at four houses forming the corners of an imaginary square; gômûtrikâ, when he takes the houses in a zigzag line; pataṅgavîthikâ (cricket's walk), when he goes to houses at a great distance from one another; sambûkâvartta (the windings of a conch), when he goes in a spiral line, either toward the centre (abhyantara) or from the centre outward (bahis); âyatam-gatvâ-pratyâgata, when he first goes straight on and then returns.

177:5 I give the traditional explanation of the verses, as handed p. 178 down in the commentaries. If we might set it aside, I should translate: abstinence with reference to disposition is observed by him who in collecting alms preserves the same disposition, whether he has to do with a woman or man, &c.

178:1 For development (paggava = paryâya) denotes any form or phase of existence which anything can assume. Therefore all particulars of place, e.g. are developments of Place. As all restrictions of place, &c., indirectly diminish the food obtainable by a monk, they also come under the head Abstinence.

178:2 According to the commentator, these are the six kinds enumerated in verse 29. Sambûkâvartta is of two kinds, as explained in the note; the eighth kind is rigvî, or the common way of begging. These eight ways have reference to the houses in which they collect alms. The seven êshanâs refer to the quality or quantity of the food; their names are given in the Tîkâ, partly in Prâkrit, partly in Sanskrit: 1. samsatthâ; 2. asamsatthâ; 3. uddhadâ; 4. alpalêpikâ; 5. udgrihîtâ; 6. pragrihîtâ; 7. ugghitadharmâ. According to another passage: 1. is samsprishta, 3. uddhrita, 5. avagrihîta.